Begur police arrest man aiding cyber fraudsters in laundering money

The Begur police on Saturday arrested a 37-year-old man for allegedly aiding cyber fraudsters in laundering siphoned off money.

The accused, identified as P. Kaviarasan, a resident of Parappana Agrahara, was the owner of an ice cream parlour. The police recovered ₹1.1 lakh from him.

On December 5, one of the victims lodged a complaint alleging that an unknown person who contacted him on November 29 posing as a Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) officer threatened him into paying ₹39.7 lakh. The accused allegedly told the victim that the latter’s number had been used for money laundering and he had to face an “online inquiry” by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The fraudster talked the complainant into sending them money as part of the investigation and siphoned off the total sum, the police said.

Based on the complaint, the Begur police traced the bank transactions of the victim, leading to the identification of a mule bank account that led to one of the suspects.

“The accused had allegedly withdrawn money from a mule bank account near Parappana Agrahara using a cheque, which gave us a crucial lead. After detaining the suspect, he confessed to the crime,” a police officer said.

“Kaviarasan is part of a racket who had developed links with the kingpin through his Tamil Nadu connections and started working for him. The main accused is absconding in Mumbai,” the officer added. 

Investigations revealed that Kaviarasan’s role was to gather all the siphoned-off money, withdraw it, and transfer it to the fraudsters in Tamil Nadu and Mumbai.

The police have launched a manhunt for the prime accused. Meanwhile, they are also ascertaining the role of Kaviarasan in other cases.